"American Censorship": The Stop Online Piracy Act and a Fight for Digital Rights

• In Event: Privacy, Surveillance, and Online Speech

Abstract

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was the latest in a series of bills drafted to address online piracy and sparked an organized uproar resulting in heavy lobbying, critiques from newspapers, and online protests including American Censorship Day and Internet Blackout Day before being defeated. This article builds on the work of McChesney (1995; 2007; 2013) and Pickard (2015a) to provide a critical perspective on public policy and describe how the outcome of this debate marked a success for digital rights advocacy. Using qualitative interviews with digital right advocates and process tracing this article investigates the labor of digital rights opposition to SOPA/PIPA as a case study in public policy advocacy. The article argues that though successful organizing strategies, innovative tactics, and a broad coalition pushing a narrative of fighting censorship, digital rights advocates defeated the proposed legislation, and in doing so reaffirmed a paradigm of negative rights.

Author

• James Losey, Stockholm U